On occasion, immobile patients fall from a bed or chair onto the floor. It is often difficult to get the patient to their original position when they are in a prone position on the floor. It often takes several people in order to safely lift a patient from the floor and successfully back to their original position. Most prior art devices are used to transfer a patient from an original position on a bed or chair and do not extend their support surface to the floor. Without a support surface that extends to the floor, a patient on the floor needs to be manually lifted to a support surface in order to move the patient.
It is an object of the invention to provide a patient lifter that has a support surface that can extend downwardly to floor level.
It is another object of the invention to provide a patient lifter that can safely and easily lift a patient from a prone position on the floor.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a patient lifter that is possible for a single person to use.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a patient lift system that is easy and inexpensive to operate.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reviewing the disclosure of the invention.
A patient lifter has a patient support platform that made be lowered until it touches the floor. Once in this position, it is a simple matter for a single person to place a patient who is prone on the floor onto the patient platform. Once on the platform, the patient support platform can be raised to a height sufficient to transfer the patient onto a bed or chair. The invention has many different devices for raising and lowering the patient support platform which may be chosen. The device is provided with wheels so that it may be easily transported to the site of the patient and be used to move the patient from place to place. The device can also be used to transfer a patient between beds. In this way, any difference in height between the beds does not pose a problem.